Quote of the Day
When you cannot make up your mindwhich of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take
choose the bolder.
W.J. Slim
Pro-Liberty Thought of the Day
 |
| Via Patriot Post |
It doesn't bad-mouth customers, is always available for work, operates consistently, without complaint..
 |
| Via LFC |
I was watching a Red Eye video discussing a current newsbite kindergarten teacher's rather presumptuous instructions on Valentine's Day etiquette (which doesn't seem to embed in my blog, but as of publication date it's available here). Here is a relevant tweet picture:
 |
| Via kristinf416 |
I occasionally deal with cultural topics in the blog (e.g., my daily music video, sports results, singing competitions, and memorials). I've never been a parent, but I have a couple of comments to make about this. Almost everyone understands that, say, if you bring refreshments to a class, you bring enough for the class to share: you don't bring 10 cupcakes to a class of 20 kids. It was enough for the teacher to mention class-size; there's no need to lecture parents about fairness to other kids. I also don't like the idea of random distribution of cards to students, i.e., if everybody gets a prize, nobody wins a prize. When I was in class, I had some good friends and others were acquaintances, even bullies. I might pick out special cards for my friends.
I know that equality of outcome is important to some people. My mom still remembers a visit to a paternal uncle's family. My aunt served my cousins full size glasses of soda while we siblings got juice glasses. To be honest, I never noticed and wasn't traumatized, but my mom was unhappy her kids were treated differently. At the time soda pop was a treat for special occasions; it was enough to get a serving. Why should I care if the birthday boy got a bigger piece of cake? Kids know that "life isn't fair"--some kids got better presents, clothes, etc. From a lower middle-income family, I never really envied kids, say, whose parents paid their way through college, bought them cars, etc. In fact, I took pride in earning my way through college, and I didn't have a car to drive on my first date. I think we've got to stop this self-esteem crap and focus on traditional virtues.
More of the Wacoal 'My Woman is Beautiful' Series
I presented the first segment in yesterday's post: without giving away the full story, it's about a married couple whom finally got pregnant after years of trying; the happy mother is then given devastating news about her own heath--and fully treating the disease could affect the health or life of her preborn child. The other stories are also compelling; the second video below brought tears to my eyes. This is in the context of a culture which tends to shy away from what other people do or say about you.
Wacoal is a Thai lingerie company which is marketing its products to women whom are beautiful on the inside. I'll say one thing: I've seen a lot of forgettable Victoria Secret commercials featuring beautiful women whom would never date me--but the real-life men who won the hearts of the women behind the Wacoal ads hit the jackpot in life...
Facebook Corner
Don Boudreaux, Tom DiLorenzo, Bob Murphy, Tom Sowell, Bastiat, Adam Smith, Mises, Friedman,...
(LFC). A troll writes: Ahhh capitalism, back in the "good ol' days" before government intervention when all there was were dirt roads. Then that mean ol' president Eisenhower initiated the interstate highway system. I know, I know, there was some un-named government regulation that prevented companies from creating it decades before the government made it, just like space flight and the internet, right?
The troll is completely and incompetently ignorant of the history of highways (see, e.g., Cato Institute's Downsizing Government sister site). Not only did private sector road investments far exceed the net present value of the federal interstate system investment, in fact, regulations squeezed out private sector market share. "Un-named government regulation"? Only a government shill who has never had to navigate a pathway through regulations at multiple levels of government in building any business could be in such an obvious state of denial. Not to mention the "free" highway system is hardly free; are time and materials in building, operating and maintaining roads "free"? Mandatory fuel taxes are redistributed by corrupt politicians for things like subsidized mass transit.
The fact of the matter is the Internet never took off until it was privatized, and space flight was a natural extension of airflight, which originated in the private sector. The relevant technologies were invented and produced not by central planners but private sector sources. Any objective observer would conclude that an unfettered marketplace would have evolved faster, cheaper, and better without incompetent bureaucrats and politicians intervening in the sectors.
Political Cartoon
 |
| Courtesy of the original artist via Illinois Policy Institute |
Dolly Parton, "I Will Always Love You". I remember watching and being a fan of Dolly Parton on her singing partner Porter Wagoner's TV show before I understood the attention paid to her famous figure. The song was written in her transition to a successful solo career where she enjoyed crossover pop success like Kenny Rogers and John Denver. I will feature their joint bittersweet duet later in my countdown. But I can't help but also include Whitney's outstanding cover, which I consider her own finest vocal performance: the breakout chorus is epic, one of the best moments in pop history, and the sax in the background is a brilliant touch.
